Prokhorov flew to New York and watched the Nets hand the Charlotte Bobcats their 17th straight loss, 97-81 on Friday. He and Carlesimo were to meet Saturday for lunch, where the Russian billionaire will likely remind Carlesimo of his high — perhaps unrealistic — goals for the Nets.

Carlesimo, uncomfortable with how he got the job, isn’t worried about what it will take to keep it.

“Honestly, am I anxious to hear what he’s got to say? Of course I do. But we’ve just got to go out and do the best job we can and see whatever happens,” Carlesimo said. “I certainly don’t want to lobby for it or anything like that.”

He won’t need to if the Nets keep performing like they did Friday.

The Nets played as they did last month, when they were 11-4 and Johnson was Eastern Conference coach of the month. They are just 4-10 in December, a slump that cost Johnson his job, but got back over .500 against the hapless Bobcats.

Brook Lopez had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Deron Williams added 17 of his 19 points in the first half, and Joe Johnson had 16 for the Nets, who led by 29 points and won for just the second time in seven games.

“I felt we’re a good team all year and we just hit a rough patch,” said Williams, who struggled under Johnson. “We’ve got to fight our way out of it, so we made a step in the right direction tonight and we just keep going.”

Prokhorov cut short heli-skiing in British Columbia to travel to New York. He said he decided to fire Johnson last week but will be patient with Carlesimo. Even with big names such as Phil Jackson potentially available and Prokhorov vowing to spend whatever it takes to build a championship team, he said repeatedly that Carlesimo was the head coach.

Prokhorov did say that if the Nets do look for a new coach, he would be personally involved. He wouldn’t discuss anyone by name, even joking he had never heard of Jackson, the 11-time champion coach whom ESPN.com reported was the Nets’ top target.

“Now P.J. is the head coach and if it becomes necessary, you know who the usual suspects are,” Prokhorov told reporters at halftime.

The Nets had been blown out of their previous two games and Prokhorov said the Nets were lacking team spirit.

Still, deciding Johnson would be fired last week means Prokhorov had made up his mind even before the lacklustre Christmas performance at home against Boston that preceded a rout Wednesday in Milwaukee.

“I think we have very talented players, but they are capable of much more than what we have seen in the recent weeks,” Prokhorov said.